Chapter 4

Bang!

The sound was deafening. I turned my head as fast as I could to identify what had happened.

Then I saw him. A man, if he could even be called that, standing as tall as a building in the middle of the road. I heard mum's shocked gasp and felt the car slow as she slammed on the breaks.

It wouldn't be enough. The car wasn't slowing down fast enough. She turned to me and smiled, I could see the helplessness and pity in her eyes.

"Mummy loves you." She said. I heard her swallow as she choked back a sob.

The car kept moving. There were only a few seconds before we would crash into the villain. The only other option was to turn the wheel and crash through the barricades into the river below. There was still a slim chance of survival if the car crashed into the huge villain, there was no chance that mother or I could fight the raging river currents in the dark.

"You bastard! How could you endager innocent people!" A loud male voice sounded nearby.

I caught sight of him in the rear view mirror. He was running at incredible speeds, faster than we had initially been driving on the motorway. He was catching up to us, the desperate look in his eyes showed that he seemed willing to engage the villain at any cost to his safety.

He was a hero. His red and white costume was decorated with lightning bolts. I saw in his eyes something beautiful, a noble and righteous desire to save a car full of innocents civilians.

'I can help.' The thought hit me like a punch to the gut. I wasn't just an innocent and helpless civilian. Mum's quirk allowed her to make small bubbles, it couldn't help us. But my quirk was different. I could do something.

'Public quirk use is banned, but I don't care. All I need to do is buy us some time for the hero to catch up! I won't let him hurt mum!'

I shut my eyes tightly. I needed something powerful, something that could throw the villain of balance and knock him out of the car's way. As long as mum kept driving straight we would be okay!

"Keep the wheel steady!" I said to her. I didn't open my eyes to see whether she listened, there wasn't enough time. I could only hope that she trusted me.

I concentrated harder. The muscles in my body tensed up and I felt a headache building but I didn't care. I had to succeed. Failure wasn't an option.

Then I felt the change. The barrier between my imagination and reality shattered and my creation burst into the real world.

Bwarrrr!

A truck, a huge truck nearly as tall as the villain soared through the air. Its horn blared like a foghorn. The yellow beams of its headlights illuminated the villain as if he were standing on stage in the spotlight. The logo of my father's construction company was a grinning tiger emblazoned on the front of the truck.

I saw the villain's eyes widen. His mouth formed an o shape and his arms raised to his chest.

Then they collided.

Bang!

I watched the front of the truck deform, metal crunched and bent as it slammed into the villain. For a moment the two giants seemed evenly matched. Then the momentum behind the truck hit him with vengeance.

The villain was hurled backwards through the air. His face was deformed into a flattened pancake like shape and blood poured out from his nose. Without a doubt it was broken. His arms fell uselessly to his side, mangled and with bones jutting out at nightmarish angles.

'I didn't know he would get hurt that bad.' I thought.

I had never tried to manifest something as large or powerful as the truck. It wasn't safe to experiment with my powers on such a dangerous scale. I'd always practiced honing my technique and control rather than aiming for raw power, the largest thing I'd manifested before was a lion I'd seen at the zoo.

The road where the villain had stood was shattered by the impact. I looked to mum and saw that her face was white as a sheet. Her knuckles gripped the steering wheel so tightly that I thought it might break.

Although the colour had drained from her face, she still looked fiercely determined.

"Hold on tight sweetheart." She said, her eyes still fixed on the road in front of us.

The car hit the first pot hole. The right side jumped up into the air and the impact rocked through me painfully.

The next pot hole was deeper, the car was already off balance and the engine roared as mum pressed the pedal to the floor. For a moment we escaped gravity's chains and flew weightlessly through the air.

Then we crashed heavily back onto the road, steam and smoke billowed out from the front of the car. An ear piercing wail sounded from the back wheels followed by an explosion.

The back wheel had burst. The car veered violently to the left, sparks flew as the rear axel scraped against the tarmac. I felt like I was going to be sick as the car span in circles. The air bags in front of me and mum went off with a bang, slamming us into our seats and holding us there tightly.

We span out of control for what felt like forever. I heard more explosions as the other tires squealed and burst one by one. The friction between the axels and the road drained away the car's momentum. The metal glowed red hot.

But eventually, we came to a stop.

"Are you okay?" Mum turned to me and asked, her voice was anxious and tears streamed down her face.

I could see that her neck was bruised. Her breathing was shallow and she was still white as a sheet. But she was safe.

"I'm okay." I answered, offering a small smile.

She sighed with relief and let go of the steering wheel, letting her arms fall exhausted to her sides.

"I didn't know you could do that." She said.

"Neither did I." I replied.

We were both still processing what had just happened. The last minute felt longer than both of our lives combined. Despite the fact that we'd just faced down death and barely come out alive, I felt laughter rising in my chest.

"I hit him with a truck." I said, holding my hand to my mouth and trying and failing to not giggle.

Mum's crying was interrupted by her snort of laughter. She leaned over to me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace, "Your dad will be proud, that logo was his own design."

She held me tight and we laughed together. I couldn't remember when I'd also started crying.

"We survived, you saved us sweetheart." Mum said, bringing my head to her chest and burying me tighter in the hug.

"You saved us too, you kept driving straight." I replied. My voice was muffled by the hug and her jumper but I knew that she still heard it.

"Citizens! Are you injured? The police and the ambulance are on their way!" The lightning bolt hero appeared at my door.

He threw it open and lifted me out of the car. I hadn't noticed until he arrived that the temperature was increasing as the engine continued to spurt out thick black smoke.

He moved in a blur of speed and lay me down on the riverbank a safe distance away from the destruction and the burning car. He then vanished and reappeared holding mum in his arms. He gently lay her down next to me and scanned us both for injuries.

The hero's cape fluttered in the wind. Suddenly he bowed, so low that his head almost touched the ground, "Young man what you did there was incredible. You saved yourself and your mother when I couldn't. I am so sorry to you both."

His sincerity and apologeticness overflowed. I could see that his fists were clenched tightly in anger, directed at his weakness and inability to help.

"No, you did your best. You're a hero not a god, all you can do is try." My mother said to him gently.

Her words were kind and comforting, but I knew that they couldn't bring the hero peace. He forced himself to unclench his jaw and said stiffly, "Thank you miss. You are too kind to someone useless like me."

Mum wanted to say something more. I saw the words about to form on her lips. But the sound of sirens wailing cut her off.

Police officers burst out from their vans, wearing thick black armour and carrying large guns. They sprinted torwards the villain who was lying on the ground, barely breathing. He was unconscious and the amount of blood around him could've filled a swimming pool. I wondered whether he would ever recover. I was conflicted. Part of me wanted him to recover and open his eyes to the mistakes he had made. Another part of me wanted him to die right there on the ground in front of me. To take one last breath and disappear forever so that he could never hurt anyone again.

The police officers didn't show any sympathy. They cuffed him with huge handcuffs and dragged him across the ground into a large truck with the police logo on it. The ground where he'd been dragged was smeered red with his blood.

"Citizens, are you hurt?" A police officer wearing ordinary uniform rushed over to us. Behind him tailed several paramedics carrying large bags of equipment.

The paramedics kneeled next to me and mum. One addressed her and began assessing her injuries. He frowned when she screamed in pain as he removed her jumper.

"Broken ribs. At least two. She needs to go to hospital now." He said, standing up and nodding to the other members of his team.

A woman and a man swiftly and smoothly assembled a stretcher. They were both tall and muscular, they moved her onto the stretched and lifted her like she weighed nothing at all.

"Son, I know you're worried about your mother. Don't worry, you can ride in the ambulance with her. But I need you to tell me if you're in pain." The paramedic at my side said firmly.

I realised that I hadn't answered him when he asked me if I was in any pain. I'd been completely focused on watching the paramedics assess mum's condition.

"I'm sorry, I was-" I started to explain.

He shook his head and smiled, "Don't worry about it son. My colleagues will take care of your mom, right now we need to take care of you. Are you in any pain?"

His words cut through the fog of adrenaline. I felt pain all over. My chest ached and my head throbbed.

"My chest hurts and everywhere feels sore. I've got a headache as well, I used my quirk on the villain, I know it was wrong but I had to save my mum." I answered, breathing had suddenly became painful.

His eyes widened and he subconsciously looked to the van where the near-death villain was being restrained with steel cables. Then his professionalism kicked in and he returned his focus to me, "That's okay kid, don't worry about that. You're going to need to come the hospital as well."

The paramedic lifted me into his arms. I was 10 years old and not particularly tall or muscular, I didn't weigh much.

The ambulance ride to the hospital was quiet. I sat next to mum holding her hand as she lay there. The paramedics had given her drugs for the pain. One of the broken ribs was dangerously close to her lungs, they needed her to keep still so that the rib didn't puncture.

"What do you mean? What's happened? Jake, Jake are you there?" I heard my father's voice. I'd never heard him so scared.

The paramedic who'd carried me held out the phone towards me. He smiled encouragingly.

I took a deep breath and accepted the phone, "Hi daddy."

Tears started to run down my face again. I forced myself to push back down the sobs that were rishing in my chest.

"Jake, my boy, you're okay! What happened son, is your mum okay, can I talk to her?" My father said, I could hear the relief in his voice.

I looked at my mum lying motionless on the ambulance bed. She was still so pale.

"We're in the ambulance daddy, there was a villain on the highway, he-" My voice caught in my throat.

I gritted my teeth and kept talking, "he tried to hurt us. But I hit him with one of your trucks, they've taken him away now. A hero rescued us, he called the ambulance and we're on the way to the hospital. Mummy's next to me, the paramedics say that she's broken a few ribs. She needs surgery, she's asleep right now, they gave her some medicine for the pain."

Dad was silent. He didn't make a silly joke as he usually did or pretend that a seagull was trying to take his phone.

I waited anxiously for him to speak. Seconds passed but he still didn't say anything.

"Ah! Sorry son I dropped this stupid phone between the cushions! You did so well kiddo, I'll be three soon okay, I'll meet you at the hospital. Everything will be okay."

I couldn't help but laugh. There he was, the kind and loving father and husband who always rose to the occasion. My tears started flowing heavier and I was crying and laughing at the same time, "Love you dad."

"Love you son. See you soon."